WOW! It's already the end of week two! I've been so busy! This week was great! For two of the days, I had the opportunity to lead a small group. I really enjoyed that. I have also been working one-on-one with the students on the computers. Some of them are great at using the mouse and then others really struggle. They like to lift the mouse up instead of sliding it around. The students have been playing on starfall.com It's a pretty good website for playing around with letters.
Yesterday, one of the students bit another students. He had to stay on the wall while the other students played during gym time. He was crying the whole time. I know that students should not bite and they need to learn that biting is not the right thing to do but it still made me feel bad to see him crying. Once we left the gym, I asked the teacher if I could talk to him about it. I got down to his level (so I wasn't towering over him) I told him to look in my eyes and listen to my words. Then I told him that he had to stay on the wall because he bit a friend and that is not what we use our teeth for. He told me that his friend had shoved him. I told him that when our friends push us we need to use our words and say "Please don't push me." I think that talking with him about him helped him understand why he was in trouble more than just putting him on the wall and letting him cry did. I mean it's fine to make him sit out but we should at least explain to him why he's in trouble and what he can do next time to avoid getting in trouble. I think it worked pretty well. He even went up to his friend when we got back to the classroom and apologized.
Notable books:
One Dark Night by Hazel Hutchins
Snowballs by Lois Ehlert
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
*Random side rant... I just looked up One Dark Night on amazon and it's super expensive. The most expensive being $634.00 ... SERIOUSLY? WHY? That's a crazy scam!
Friday, January 18, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Last week and the beginning of this week...
Last week, I learned so many cool things in my prekindergarten class!
Calenders: Collect old calenders so that the students can practice writing the numbers they see in the corner of each box.
Snowball fight: Have the students stand in a circle. Give each student a piece of paper with a shape, letter, or word on it. Let the students identify what is on their paper. Have the students crinkle up the pieces of paper like a snowball. On the count of three the students underhand toss their "snowball" into the middle of the circle. The students walk into the middle of the circle, pick up a new piece of paper, and uncrinkle it. Have the students identify the item on their paper.
The kids had so much fun doing this. It's important to note that you should practice walking into the circle and picking up a piece of paper, otherwise, you'll end up with a dog pile of children! =]
Straw Painting: We have been talking a lot about weather, especially wind. We had the students create paintings using their own wind. They blew through a straw into paint dots on their paper. They all turned out very fun. Just remind the students not to suck the paint up, only blow out their "wind" from their lungs.
We have read Gilberto and the Wind by Marie Hall Ets several times in class. In part of the book, Gilberto watches the wind fill pillow cases on the line and dance through shirts and pants that are drying. This week in small groups, the students get to use their own wind to watch ribbons dance around. We also used a fan to fill pillow cases with wind, just like in the story. The students think that is so fun! =]
Looking back on my time in the classroom so far, I think there are a few things that I can be improving on. One thing that I can be doing is interacting with the students in a more meaningful way. I sometimes catch my mind drifting off during choice time, which is easy to do because the students are very good at having fun on their own. It's only my second week in the classroom, but I need to start remembering to do things to make the day easier on the other teachers. Like helping to set up the activities for the afternoon class. I'm getting better at remembering but I know there is more that I should still be doing.
Calenders: Collect old calenders so that the students can practice writing the numbers they see in the corner of each box.
Snowball fight: Have the students stand in a circle. Give each student a piece of paper with a shape, letter, or word on it. Let the students identify what is on their paper. Have the students crinkle up the pieces of paper like a snowball. On the count of three the students underhand toss their "snowball" into the middle of the circle. The students walk into the middle of the circle, pick up a new piece of paper, and uncrinkle it. Have the students identify the item on their paper.
The kids had so much fun doing this. It's important to note that you should practice walking into the circle and picking up a piece of paper, otherwise, you'll end up with a dog pile of children! =]
Straw Painting: We have been talking a lot about weather, especially wind. We had the students create paintings using their own wind. They blew through a straw into paint dots on their paper. They all turned out very fun. Just remind the students not to suck the paint up, only blow out their "wind" from their lungs.
We have read Gilberto and the Wind by Marie Hall Ets several times in class. In part of the book, Gilberto watches the wind fill pillow cases on the line and dance through shirts and pants that are drying. This week in small groups, the students get to use their own wind to watch ribbons dance around. We also used a fan to fill pillow cases with wind, just like in the story. The students think that is so fun! =]
Looking back on my time in the classroom so far, I think there are a few things that I can be improving on. One thing that I can be doing is interacting with the students in a more meaningful way. I sometimes catch my mind drifting off during choice time, which is easy to do because the students are very good at having fun on their own. It's only my second week in the classroom, but I need to start remembering to do things to make the day easier on the other teachers. Like helping to set up the activities for the afternoon class. I'm getting better at remembering but I know there is more that I should still be doing.
Monday, January 14, 2013
My Internship
Well, I have started my internship. Last week was my first week!! =] It is so exciting. I wanted a place to keep all of the nifty things that I have learned and reflect on how I can be a better intern /future teacher, so I figured a blog would do the trick! There are many things that I have learned so far! I am so excited to continue to learn and grow! =]
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